Foul-up leads DHS to delay network

By Wilson P. Dizard III

Nov 20, 2003

An administrative misunderstanding led to the release of a request for proposals for the Homeland Secure Digital Network before the project received final approval, Homeland Security CIO Steve Cooper says.

HSDN will be a classified network linking the homeland security agencies.

'We pulled it back to improve it and broaden its scope,' Cooper said at a briefing this month. The officials responsible for HSDN had secured approval from only the first of three levels of committees that oversee departmental projects, he said.

'They took that as a green light' to issue the RFP, Cooper said. DHS issued the request in September and withdrew it last month.

'There is nothing wrong' with the HSDN project, Cooper said, adding it just needs to undergo the full review process. 'We will rerelease the request in 45 to 60 days,' he said.